A $726 million project to build permanent canal closures and pumps in New Orleans was designed to have a 35-year lifespan. But just five years since the 17th Street Canal part of the Army Corps of Engineers' upgrade was completed, serious concerns are already arising.
That's alarming news, particularly to the survivors of the floods after Hurricane Katrina.
One of the project's 17 pumps — intended to remove flood water when storm gates built after Katrina are closed during tropical weather — is heavily corroded, and there are varying degrees of corrosion in other pumps. The pumps are part of an inventive system to prevent a recurrence of the 2005 disaster, when heavy winds pushed water from Lake Pontchartrain into the city's drainage canals. Floodwalls that lined the London Avenue and 17th Street canals failed, inundating much of the city.
The Corps says there will be enough capacity to handle strong storms this year, and that it will fix the problem at no further cost to the public.
“The fact of the matter is, (the pumps are) not doing what they're supposed to be designed for,” said Corps spokesman Ricky Boyett. “And that's a factor that we have to address, to basically provide the pump station that we said we're going to.”